195 posts categorized "From the print edition"

April 17, 2011

From today's print edition, a story on letters sent by House Speaker Michael Madigan to boost candidates for Cook County associate judge. You can read the letters here, and see a graphic explaining the process for selecting associate judges here. You can also catch up on our Madigan Rules series at chicagotribune.com/madigan.

By Jeff Coen and Todd Lighty, Tribune reporters

The letters from Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan are short and to the point.

"Dear Judge," begins one, written on Madigan's General Assembly stationery. "I believe that these people would be excellent members of the judiciary."

Tucked into the letter to Cook County's Circuit Court judges are the names of a handful of lawyers, blessed by Madigan to fill judicial openings.

Madigan's letters provide a glimpse of his influence in what passes for merit selection of associate judges, who are chosen by the county's 275 circuit judges.

Many of those full circuit judges were publicly elected with the help of the Democratic Party that Madigan controls — and the judicial slating committee run by Ald. Edward Burke, 14th. While the party wields overt power in those elections, the process of picking associate judges is touted as a way for talented lawyers to make the bench without bowing to political bosses or wooing uninformed and uninterested voters.

But politicking for the coveted associate judgeships is rampant in Chicago's legal community, and the Tribune found one of the best ways to win a spot is to be on what is widely referred to as "Madigan's list."

Since 2003, Madigan has recommended 37 lawyers to become associate judges, and 25 were selected outright, according to documents obtained by the Tribune and interviews. Several more made it to the bench through appointments.

About half of those on Madigan's list made political donations to his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the state's highest law enforcement official. Campaign contributions are common among lawyers vying for judgeships and are typically not large — but enough to indicate the donor recognizes the value of political participation.

Malcolm Rich, executive director of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, which rates judicial candidates, said political pedigree or a familiar-sounding name too often trumps qualifications when the public votes. The process of selecting associate judges is intended to increase diversity and quality on the bench by filtering clout out of the equation.

But Rich acknowledged politics can never be removed completely, and he said the Madigan letters show his organization and others must be constantly vigilant. This year, more than 240 lawyers have applied for 10 associate judge vacancies.

"Obviously, the political process has adapted itself enough that it is identifying people who have connections yet are qualified in their own right," Rich said. "In addition to getting the kind of experience that makes them qualified to become a judge, people are realizing that certain kinds of contributions and friendships don't hurt."

In a statement, Madigan said he makes recommendations free of political influence or self-interest and "because I believe I am an experienced evaluator of those who seek to serve in the judiciary."

Madigan is a name partner in one of the city's top property tax-appeal law firms, Madigan and Getzendanner. The firm's lawyers practice in many venues, including before some circuit judges who got their jobs with the help of the Democratic Party. Madigan said his personal "code of conduct" prohibits any conflict of interest.

"Over a number of years, various people have asked for my support in their bid to be elected associate judge," Madigan said. "My comments in reaction to those requests concerning the election of associate judges are not made on behalf or in connection with my law firm, public or political positions."

Burke, former state Sen. President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, and a variety of other local politicians also promote candidates for the associate judge spots. But in recent years, none did so with the regularity of Madigan, according to the review of recommendation letters obtained by the Tribune and interviews with many participants in the process.

One lawyer said he felt the sting of not being on Madigan's list. The lawyer, a former prosecutor who asked not to be identified because he still hopes to become a judge, said he worked hard to get support of the sitting judges, handing out resumes and visiting their chambers.

"The next thing they would say was, 'Are you on Madigan's list?'" he said. "Then it was, 'Oh, you should be on the list.'"

Associate Judge John Thomas Carr was selected after he was named in Madigan's 2007 letter. He said judges and other lawyers told him being on Madigan's list would be a good thing, so he wrote a letter to the House speaker stressing his qualifications. He said he heard nothing back.

Carr said he had no idea why he ended up on the list: "I am not a politician and I have no political friends."

Judge Brian K. Flaherty said he has no idea how he ended up on Madigan's 2003 list. Flaherty, former counsel to then-Democratic Sheriff Michael Sheahan, said he learned about it after the letter was sent to the voting judges.

"People have said being on his list is a good thing," Flaherty said. "I have no idea if that's true or not. I have no idea how the judges view his letters."

Sitting judges who asked not to be identified said they and their colleagues know Madigan's clout as chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party as well as at the state Capitol, where the longtime speaker holds unrivaled control over the General Assembly. The judges said that when a letter from Madigan arrives, they take notice.

"People assume that if you are on Madigan's list, you will get made," one circuit judge said. "Madigan has a lot of power in Springfield. He does things that could affect our salaries and pensions."

State lawmakers must sign off on changes to salary and retirement benefits for the more than 400 judges in the Cook County Circuit Court system, the nation's largest, with courts at the Daley Center in the Loop and six suburban municipal districts.

The Cook County Democratic Party, run by Madigan ally Joseph Berrios, acts as a virtual gatekeeper for candidates seeking to run in the party primary to become a full circuit judge — a win there is tantamount to victory in the general election. That slating process has long been run by Burke, whose wife, Anne Burke, became a Supreme Court justice with the party's help.

This year, as in others when there are associate judge openings, a nominating committee of circuit judges will select a shortlist of finalists from the applicants.

The shortlist sets off a frenzied two weeks of private campaigning. The candidates send cards, letters, resumes and recommendations, and try to visit as many circuit judges as they can and ask for their vote. Ethnic groups lobby for their members to be supported, and circuit judges sometimes write one another letters pushing for candidates they know.

From 2003 through 2009, there were five contests for associate judge, and more than 135 lawyers made the final cut to fill 82 vacancies.

Many got recommendations from judges, lawyers, bar associations and politicians, in letters that often mentioned how they know the candidates and what their qualifications are.

Jones, who retired as state Senate president in 2009, said lawyers came to him and asked for his support, adding he was unsure whether his letters really gave the candidates a boost.

"Maybe they did, maybe they didn't," he said.

Then why write the letters?

"There are some things you just do," Jones said.

Four of the six candidates Jones supported since 2005 became judges, including two who were also backed by Madigan.

Getting the backing of multiple patrons can pay off. Judge Carr, for instance, said he also went to "pay his respects" to Ald. Burke because he had heard it was a good thing to do.

Being a political donor also appears to be an advantage. The vast majority of candidates for associate judge in recent years have made political donations, according to a review of state campaign finance records. More than a dozen lawyers who became associate judges gave to Burke or his political organizations.

Most of the 37 candidates in Madigan's letters did not return messages left by the Tribune.

Carr said he and the other judges on Madigan's 2007 list were qualified and have performed well.

Most of the 37 associate judge hopefuls backed by Madigan were rated "qualified" or "well qualified" by bar associations, with the exception of a handful who were rated "not qualified" by the Chicago Council of Lawyers. Unlike the written recommendations from many other supporters or political patrons, Madigan's letters do not mention the qualifications of those he endorses or how he knows them.

"I think the following people would be good judges," was all he wrote in his 2009 letter.

Some of Madigan's picks don't make it their first time up.

Take Laura Bertucci Smith, a former Cook County prosecutor whose husband is a regular contributor to Democrats. He gave $1,000 to Lisa Madigan in 2002 and $500 in 2003. Bertucci Smith donated $300 to Ald. Burke in 2004. She wasn't picked when she was on the speaker's 2005 list.

But the Illinois Supreme Court appointed her to fill an opening in 2007, and in 2008 she ran for associate judge again. Once again, Madigan backed her and this time she won. Messages left for Bertucci Smith went unreturned.

Likewise, Ellen Mandeltort and Patrice Ball-Reed, both of whom had worked for Lisa Madigan, were bypassed when the speaker recommended them in 2007. But the following year they were picked after again appearing on Madigan's list.

Messages left for Mandeltort and Ball-Reed were not returned.

Still, Madigan's blessing isn't a guarantee.

Defense lawyer Robert G. Clarke was on Madigan's 2007 letter but never was selected.

"The mysteries of higher powers have passed me over," Clarke said, declining to speak about it further.

April 04, 2011

A Tribune review found the January 2010 rewrite of Illinois' open records laws improved public access to government documents, but enforcement problems and red tape have limited progress. Read our two-day series, explore how Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office handled thousands of requests for government records, download the database and read tips for getting records at chicagotribune.com/foia.

Below is today's story on efforts to rewrite the laws by critics who think they went too far, followed by a list of legislative proposals on open records and open meetings that were introduced in the current session of the General Assembly.

May 06, 2010

State playing hot potato with pension burden

Financial neglect dates back 40 years, professor says

By Bob Secter, Tribune reporter

Debbie Lanich turned 60 in September and began to collect on what she
sarcastically refers to as her "lavish state pension" — $19,536 annual
retirement compensation for 26 years as a child abuse investigator.

"We would go into public housing projects at night, walking up the
stairwells past drug dealers because the elevators didn't work," said
Lanich. "I've had a gun pulled on me, a knife pulled on me, been
grabbed, had the headlights on my car smashed and the serpentine belt
cut."

So Lanich, of Wilmette, gets rankled these days when she hears pension
costs being lambasted as a prime culprit in the state's record $13
billion deficit. "The pension funds have been used by the state as
petty cash forever," she complained. "I never missed any of my payments
into the fund."

That pretty much frames a fierce argument over how to rein in the
state's enormous pension debt, a problem literally decades in the
making as Republican and Democrats officials alike proved willful
accomplices. Whichever party controlled state government has long done
an abysmal job of socking away adequate cash to pay for all the
retirement promises it made.

With a vengeance, the bill is now coming due. The accumulated weight of
chronic funding shortfalls threatens to cripple Illinois' budget,
starve education, health care and other vital services of much-needed
revenue, and stoke pressure for tax hikes.

Pension costs loom large over the still unresolved budget debate in
Springfield as the current legislative session heads to a climax.

The red ink is so deep that Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic lawmakers are
considering borrowing billions to cover pension obligations for next
year, rather than diverting scarce tax dollars from other budget
priorities. The state did the same thing last year and the cost of
paying for that borrowing is adding more than $800 million to the
budget problem Springfield is struggling with right now.

Daley secretly questioned by FBI in 2008 over real estate controversy

Mayor Richard Daley was secretly interviewed in 2008 at a downtown
hotel by FBI agents who questioned him about the politicians who pushed
for a Chicago real estate project now at the center of a federal
bribery trial, the Tribune has learned.

The interview focused on the Galewood Yards project, an old industrial
rail yard on the West Side that was rezoned for commercial and
residential buildings over the objections of city planning staff.

Daley had trouble recalling any controversy surrounding Galewood Yards
during the March 2008 interview and could not remember participating in
City Hall meetings about three years earlier with his planning staff,
an alderman and a congressman about the project, the Tribune has
learned.

January 28, 2010

Giannoulias family bank ordered to raise capital

Regulators describe bank owned by Senate hopeful's family as 'undercapitalized'

By John Chase and Becky Yerak, Tribune reporters

The family bank that helped launch U.S. Senate candidate Alexi
Giannoulias' political career agreed to tougher government oversight as
part of a turn-around plan announced Wednesday, less than a week before
the primary election.

Broadway Bank, where Giannoulias worked for his father before entering
politics, signed a consent order with federal and state banking
regulators to raise millions of dollars in capital, restrict dividends
and hire an outside firm to assess the bank's top management. The move
indicated regulators have serious concerns about the bank's health.

The agreement comes at an inopportune time for Giannoulias, who touted
his experience as the bank's chief lending officer in getting elected
state treasurer in 2006. A Tribune poll this week showed Giannoulias
leading rivals Cheryle Jackson and David Hoffman in the race for
Tuesday's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

Jackson called on Giannoulias to withdraw from the race. Hoffman's
campaign said the news "provides further evidence of what a disaster
Mr. Giannoulias would be as the Democratic nominee for Senate."

November 22, 2009

A politically connected zoning investigator has returned to work at City Hall barely a week after he admitted to accepting bribes of cash and gifts to repeatedly overlook zoning violations.

William Wellhausen — who pleaded guilty Nov. 3 and was brought back to the job the following Monday — said he’s clueless why that happened.

“I have no idea. You’ll have to ask the city,” Wellhausen said before hanging up the telephone at the city’s Landmarks Commission, where he is doing clerical work.

Court records show that Wellhausen took bribes ranging from $100 to $8,000, including a $200 Bloomingdales gift card, in exchange for favorable zoning decisions.

Wellhausen is one of 27 individuals swept up so far in an ongoing federal bribery investigation known as Operation Crooked Code. He and one of his co-defendants, plumbing inspector Mario Olivella, both recently returned to work.

Olivella has not been convicted of any crimes and is awaiting trial in December.

City officials said they earlier tried to fire the two men but their hands are tied because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

Jenny Hoyle, a spokeswoman for the Law Department, said Wellhausen and Olivella were receiving salaries while waiting for their criminal cases to conclude. “They were sitting at home getting paid. They have been brought back to do nonsensitive work because they are getting paid anyway,” Hoyle said. “They are not doing any inspections.”

Olivella makes almost $90,000 a year, and Wellhausen makes about $78,000 a year.

Hoyle said she did not know what prompted the city to bring them back now, since they had not been working since shortly after their arrests in May 2008.

Olivella could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Dan Herbert, said he did not know why the city decided to bring him back to the job now. “It’s the city of Chicago, and they work in strange ways,” Herbert said. “My guess is they don’t want to be paying for people sitting at home.”

The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment about the change in the men’s job status.Wellhausen, 52, has deep roots with former Ald. William J.P. Banks’ 36th Ward Democratic Organization. The 36th Ward pushed for Wellhausen to get a coveted city job as early as 1990, according to a “clout list” entered into evidence at the 2006 trial of Mayor Richard Daley’s former patronage chief.

The mayor’s office kept the list of campaign workers who were seeking city jobs in exchange for their loyalty to Daley’s political organization.

Federal authorities, in a joint investigation with the city’s inspector general, charged Wellhausen and Olivella as part of their probe into systemic corruption in the city’s zoning and building departments.

The city fired both men in July 2008 but they appealed to the Human Resources Board, Hoyle said.City Hall could not move forward with the disciplinary hearing because the bulk of the evidence the city needed to make its case is in the possession of federal authorities, who are continuing their work, Hoyle said.

Since the city did not proceed with the hearing within the allotted time under the municipal code, the city is required to pay the two men until the Human Resources Board ultimately makes its decision. Hoyle said city lawyers are reviewing Wellhausen’s guilty plea to determine how quickly to take the case to the board for a decision.

Wellhausen’s sentencing has been delayed until his cooperation with law enforcement is no longer needed. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend that Wellhausen be sentenced to 15 months in prison and pay a fine of more than $33,000.

November 19, 2009

Friends & family fund for Chicago aldermen

Shadowy $1.3 million payroll helps them get around ban on patronage hiring

By Hal Dardick and Ellen Gabler

TRIBUNE REPORTERS

As City Hall struggles to pay for basic services, a stealth budget
account worth millions has allowed Chicago aldermen to put family
members, campaign operatives and those with political baggage on yet
another taxpayer-funded payroll.

Operating without scrutiny, one alderman hired the mother of a former
top mayoral aide later convicted of rigging city hiring. Another hired
a city worker ousted for sexual harassment allegations. Several others
hired relatives.

"All of us (aldermen) have family members on the payroll," said Ald.
Isaac Carothers, 29th, who has paid a relative more than $30,000 since
January 2008. "That's nothing new."

The revelation comes as Mayor Richard Daley prepares to ask a federal
judge to end decades of court supervision over City Hall's clout-heavy
hiring practices, arguing that illegal patronage is dead. But the
city's hiring compliance officer told the Tribune he didn't know about
the payroll of about $1.3 million a year.

Neither did the attorney whose lawsuit led to a ban on most political
hiring in the city. He said the practice could be improper.

"If it's not remedied, it's going to have to be presented to the
court," said Michael Shakman, the attorney who 40 years ago brought the
landmark federal case that led to a court-enforced consent decree on
hiring.

The little-known account also represents another pot of money for
aldermen to employ people close to them, on top of the tax dollars they
get to hire staff members and their newly expanded expense accounts
worth up to $73,280 a year.

October 14, 2009

When lawmakers set an agenda following the January ouster of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, they had two priorities: strengthening ethics laws and fixing the state's budget mess. Nine months later, they are returning to Springfield to deal with more of the same.

The fall veto session that starts Wednesday is supposed to be reserved for legislators to act on any changes the governor has made to bills they passed in the regular spring session, but other issues often intrude. The stakes are higher for this year's unfinished business because of the looming Feb. 2 primary election.

While that will fuel plenty of campaign rhetoric, it doesn't mean action is certain during the six-day gathering.

October 07, 2009

Mayor Richard Daley returns from Copenhagen undaunted

Chicago's 2016 loss won't hurt his fate, mayor says; brother expects him to run again

By Dan Mihalopoulos

Tribune reporter

Mayor Richard Daley poked fun Tuesday at any suggestion the city's
failed bid to win the 2016 Olympics would hasten his political demise,
and his brother William said he expects the mayor to run for a seventh
term in 2011.

"Win or lose, the Olympics were never going to determine what Rich
Daley was going to do," William Daley, a longtime political adviser to
the mayor, said in an interview. "I believe he runs again. I just
assume he does. He still has the enthusiasm for the job."

Mayor Richard Daley and his supporters hyped the 2016 Olympic bid as Chicago's best hope for a sorely needed economic boost, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to raise the city's global profile and even a way to help keep more kids from dropping out of school.

"The next five years, six years, tell me one thing that is going to have economic opportunities for any city," Daley had said in July, when asked about criticism of his Olympic dream. "If you have something better, I'd love to see it."

But Daley headed home from Denmark on Saturday without a trump card. He faces an increasingly dire budget crunch, concerns about crime and school violence -- and an approval rating at the lowest point since he was first elected two decades ago.

The 2016 Games were to be the capstone of Daley's tenure, an era in which he has reshaped Chicago as few mayors have.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

Past posts

Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.